Ever do something idiotic on the road?

EIREDriver

As the title suggests, I'm curious as to if any of you have done anything really stupid or idiotic while driving (or will admit to it).

I'll start. Was coming home last night. Road was very wet. Coming into a village and turned my traction control off. I wanted to see if I could get the car sideways coming around a long bend to the left. (Was very late, no one around.) Yanked up the handbrake for a sec, going about 30mph and lost control immediately. Car spun full 180 and came to rest off the road (lucky that there was a bit of tarmac on the left of road for cars to park during the day. I can still hear the tyres squealing in my ears.

It was the biggest fright I have gotten in a car and has certainly taught me to never try anything so stupid again. Something to tell the grandkids.

Anyone else have stories they would like to share?

jca

Yawn....... Another BMW drivers bragging thread.

CiniO

EIREDriver wrote: »

As the title suggests, I'm curious as to if any of you have done anything really stupid or idiotic while driving (or will admit to it).

I'll start. Was coming home last night. Road was very wet. Coming into a village and turned my traction control off. I wanted to see if I could get the car sideways coming around a long bend to the left. (Was very late, no one around.) Yanked up the handbrake for a sec, going about 30mph and lost control immediately. Car spun full 180 and came to rest off the road (lucky that there was a bit of tarmac on the left of road for cars to park during the day. I can still hear the tyres squealing in my ears.

It was the biggest fright I have gotten in a car and has certainly taught me to never try anything so stupid again. Something to tell the grandkids.

Anyone else have stories they would like to share?

If you wanted to skid nicely through the bend at 30mph handbrake is surely not a good idea.
Next time turn off your ABS (f.e. taking fuse off), and do the job with left foot braking.... Much more suitable for slight skid.
Handbrake is good for 180 deg turns at lower speeds.

Jack the Stripper

I want to be you op, you're cool maaaan

John_Rambo

Bought a mini with bald tyres and aquaplaned properly on the way home. No excuse, I knew they were like eggs, but didn't fully understand the physics of pumping water out when hitting a puddle (and it was a puddle). I ended up drifting to the wrong side of the road from Galway to Dublin pre-motorway times, brakes and steering made no difference, if the car had ABS it probably wouldn't have made a difference (old John Cooper Rover mini with the wide wheels).

There was nobody driving in the opposite direction thank fook.

After examining the car and finding no fault with it other than the tyres I drove home. When I hit the puddle it was like sailing a boat with no rudder or keel.

Definitely idiotic

Tyres on my cars are now the best money can buy and best suited to the car... And, I change them well before they hit the tyre depth indicators tell me to do so!!! Lesson learned, the easy way.

Arcade_Tryer

Ever do something idiotic on the road?

Everyday.

Steve

Not me but a mate bought a BMW and for the craic took the bulbs out of the indicators.

Nobody noticed.

Esel

John_Rambo wrote: »

Bought a mini with bald tyres and aquaplaned properly on the way home. No excuse, I knew they were like eggs, but didn't fully understand the physics of pumping water out when hitting a puddle (and it was a puddle). I ended up drifting to the wrong side of the road from Galway to Dublin pre-motorway times, brakes and steering made no difference, if the car had ABS it probably wouldn't have made a difference (old John Cooper Rover mini with the wide wheels).

There was nobody driving in the opposite direction thank fook.

After examining the car and finding no fault with it other than the tyres I drove home. When I hit the puddle it was like sailing a boat with no rudder or keel.

Definitely idiotic

Tyres on my cars are now the best money can buy and best suited to the car... And, I change them well before they hit the tyre depth indicators tell me to do so!!! Lesson learned, the easy way.

You think that's bad?

Years ago; good tyres; driving down a hill at about 50mph... Saw a big long 'puddle' all across the road at the bottom of the hill, didn't know that the area was liable to flooding. The 'puddle' was actually a (deep) lake! When the car hit it literally floated. Talk about aquaplaning! I estimate the tyres were about 6 inches above the road surface!

biko

I overtook a lorry in a ****box I was driving when I was 20, just before I had to turn into a sideroad on the left.
Just managed to overtake and turn in but it was damn close and he beeped a long time at me.
Had anything gone wrong I would have been in serious trouble, possibly t-boned by a lorry at full speed.

SnakePlissken

I bought a Nissan Juke.

bladespin

I drove a BMW once, but had a shower afterward so no real damage done.

mikeecho

Steve wrote: »

Not me but a mate bought a BMW and for the craic took the bulbs out of the indicators.

Nobody noticed.

FAKE NEWS

Dont believe that for a moment..


everyone knows that BMWs dont come with indicators

endacl

Bought a 1.4l Focus. Idiotic move. Passed the NCT yesterday so can't justify changing the frustratingly underpowered yet perfectly serviceable yoke.

ironclaw

North of 240km/h in a rental Ford Kuga on the Autobahn which I hadn't really bothered to check out before doing so.

Nissan GT-R, lost the metal around ~280km/h in the US.

Both incredibly stupid.

_Brian

Very excessive speed (220kph) to bring wife to hospital because her sister (only family) had gone into arrest and had been resuscitated twice.

i got caught up in the panic I suppose but in hindsight I wouldn't do it again.

bladespin

_Brian wrote: »

i got caught up in the panic I suppose but in hindsight I wouldn't do it again.

Yeah you would TBH in a situation like that it's not idiotic IMO, an emergency is a different thing.

josip

Did similar to the OP as an 18 year old coming out of town one night in a Mk I Feista.
Lashing rain, loads of water, widish road and nothing coming.
So I hauled up the handbrake going straight at 40mph to "see what would happen".
I left the handbrake back down as soon as the back stepped out a little.
Over corrected and started fishtailing.
Then I was going sideways wondering when it would turn over.
I came to a stop on the opposite side of the road, facing the way I had come in the forecourt of Boland's filling station.
I was closer to the petrol pump on my left than when I'd fill up.
Not long after Boland's stopped selling petrol so they might have caught it on CCTV.

mikeecho

All depends on what's idiotic


250km/h. I'm an empty HQ DC early on a Sunday morn.in a car
Or 140mph on the same road on a summers morn on a bike

Stupid, probably.. idiotic.. hmmm.. maybe

It's all about driver ability, and vehicle ability, along with balls of steel and an awareness of the consequences.

As long as you only endanger yourself, yeah.. probably idiotic.
But driving drunk, driving on bald tyres. Driving without Insurance .. that's idiotic.. as common as it is.

EIREDriver

josip wrote: »

Did similar to the OP as an 18 year old coming out of town one night in a Mk I Feista.
Lashing rain, loads of water, widish road and nothing coming.
So I hauled up the handbrake going straight at 40mph to "see what would happen".
I left the handbrake back down as soon as the back stepped out a little.
Over corrected and started fishtailing.
Then I was going sideways wondering when it would turn over.
I came to a stop on the opposite side of the road, facing the way I had come in the forecourt of Boland's filling station.
I was closer to the petrol pump on my left than when I'd fill up.
Not long after Boland's stopped selling petrol so they might have caught it on CCTV.

Am only a young lad myself. Live and learn. Defo won't be doing it again anyway. Don't know how I thought it'd be a good idea!

Steve

EIREDriver wrote: »

Am only a young lad myself. Live and learn. Defo won't be doing it again anyway. Don't know how I thought it'd be a good idea!

We've all done it, better to learn sooner rather than later that it's pointless being brave..

If you want fun go go-karting, even better when it's raining.... it's similar to coming across a tight bend full of cowshyt and will serve you well.

Sue Pa Key Pa

Worst thing I ever did when driving was passing a car at a good speed on a straight stretch on the old N11 at Jack Whites and seeing a motor bike coming in the opposite direction. I could have given in and pulled back in behind the car I was chasing but I decided to keep going and went wide of the motorbike on the right , leaving him going between both cars.

Not proud of that but learned a valuable lesson that day

stampydmonkey

When i was younger, i took a few driving lessons.. Organised them myself in my new found maturity. On the 2nd r 3rd lesson the instructor asked to see my provisional. I gave him an awful dopey look, and laughed. He asked why i was laughing. I told him i was only learning how to drive, so how would he expect me to have a provisional licence....Needless to say he told me to get out and walk home.

When eventually i did get my provisional license, mam brought me out driving. It was tight in the centre of the town so I slowed down. Mam said i was going to hit a car, i told her i wouldn't....Anyway she was right. Managed to crash into a parked car. Thankfully i was going at about 1.5mph. Was only a scratch but mam made me find whose car it was, had to go up and down the town asking everyone like an egit. Found the lad in a pub (I'd say after a few) and after taking a look, he didn't care at all.

....Was a bit dopey when i was younger

uberwolf

bladespin wrote: »

Yeah you would TBH in a situation like that it's not idiotic IMO, an emergency is a different thing.

I'm not so sure tbh. I've been the driver in a hospital dash with the patient (daughter) in the ambulance ahead of me. On reflection it would have been an emergency if she'd been in the car with me, otherwise it's just bad driving. Not saying i wouldn't do it again, but do agree it's idiotic.

Teddington Cuddlesworth

I remember (vaguely) trying to teach a friend to "drift", he was driving an early 90s Corsa. I talked him through the concept and unleashed him on a very quiet housing estate road that was still being built.
The two of us had a good 10-12 pints on board so it would have been 1am or so.
He hopped into the car, screeched up the road, screeched back down the road, he went plowing into the corner going sideways at about 40mph and rolled the car when he hit the curb.

Thankfully he was ok and woke up the next morning with just a sore head (from the beer) and a couple of cuts.

I was an awful little knacker when I was 18 to 20, I was constantly doing silly stuff in my cars. Thankfully I never injured anyone or caused anyone any direct cost, looking back I wonder how I was never arrested/killed.

r3nu4l

Me in a 1 litre 3 pot Corsa, overtaking an articulated truck at 65 mph in fifth gear, just as the road goes into a step uphill climb. I could see a car in the distance coming towards me but kept going, failing to even drop gears. Quickly ran out of steam, forcing the oncoming car into the hard shoulder. Had there been no hard shoulder there would have been a crash.

Nice couple of lessons learned that day about observing the road ahead, overtaking distances and dropping gears. I could see the terror on the other driver's face as he swerved into the hard shoulder, watching me sheepishly pootling along doing the world's slowest overtaking procedure.

carzony

Last year, I got a Mcdonalds meal with one of those large drinks included, as I turned sharply around the roundabout the drink fell out of the cup holder and began leaking. I instintively went to grab it and nearly killed myself in the process. This was on the walkinstown roundabout btw. Lucky it was late in the evening and not many cars were about.

I remember thinking that I was nearly killed for the sake of a 2 euro drink.


A few years ago, when I started driving, I discovered handbrake turns, and began doing them as often as I could. Eventually my back wheel ended up slamming against a very big path and the car was badly damaged. I have not done a 'handbraker' since.

H3llR4iser

EIREDriver wrote: »

As the title suggests, I'm curious as to if any of you have done anything really stupid or idiotic while driving (or will admit to it).

I'll start. Was coming home last night. Road was very wet. Coming into a village and turned my traction control off. I wanted to see if I could get the car sideways coming around a long bend to the left. (Was very late, no one around.) Yanked up the handbrake for a sec, going about 30mph and lost control immediately. Car spun full 180 and came to rest off the road (lucky that there was a bit of tarmac on the left of road for cars to park during the day. I can still hear the tyres squealing in my ears.

It was the biggest fright I have gotten in a car and has certainly taught me to never try anything so stupid again. Something to tell the grandkids.

Anyone else have stories they would like to share?

I'm not entirely sure why exactly you'd wait to enter a village to do something like that while coming from a a deserted open road, but anyway - there's a lesson here: if you lost the car so easily, when the loss of grip was expected and anticipated (you pulled the handbrake), it means you'll be in deep trouble if you hit some slippery ground (spilled oil, ice, etc.).

If you have the possibility to find an enclosed, possibly private bit of land (not a village...) to practice a bit, it'd be helpful to your general driving and experience with the car's reaction. Alternatively, some karting like it was suggested would be a great option too!

EIREDriver

H3llR4iser wrote: »

I'm not entirely sure why exactly you'd wait to enter a village to do something like that while coming from a a deserted open road, but anyway - there's a lesson here: if you lost the car so easily, when the loss of grip was expected and anticipated (you pulled the handbrake), it means you'll be in deep trouble if you hit some slippery ground (spilled oil, ice, etc.).

If you have the possibility to find an enclosed, possibly private bit of land (not a village...) to practice a bit, it'd be helpful to your general driving and experience with the car's reaction. Alternatively, some karting like it was suggested would be a great option too!

Think the reason I lost it so easily was a combination of below factors.
1) First time with traction control off.
2) Overestimated the speed you'd need to be travelling at to lose it.
3) Totally overestimated the amount I should be pulling up the handbrake. (Obviously pulling it up at all is a bad idea.)
4) Idiotic move in general.

I didn't try to correct myself and overdo it in opposite direction. Road was too wet and car was spinning too fast to even attempt correcting myself. Just rode it out and prayed to the power(s) above that I didn't hit anything.

I do a lot of driving and would consider myself as a "good" driver in everyday driving. I do have a heavy foot but never take risks and know how capable my car is. This has been a wake up call though definitely and I'll stick to fields and go karting tracks as you and others have suggested to get my fix of drifting action.

CiniO

EIREDriver wrote: »

Think the reason I lost it so easily was a combination of below factors.
1) First time with traction control off.
2) Overestimated the speed you'd need to be travelling at to lose it.
3) Totally overestimated the amount I should be pulling up the handbrake. (Obviously pulling it up at all is a bad idea.)
4) Idiotic move in general.

I didn't try to correct myself and overdo it in opposite direction. Road was too wet and car was spinning too fast to even attempt correcting myself. Just rode it out and prayed to the power(s) above that I didn't hit anything.

I do a lot of driving and would consider myself as a "good" driver in everyday driving. I do have a heavy foot but never take risks and know how capable my car is. This has been a wake up call though definitely and I'll stick to fields and go karting tracks as you and others have suggested to get my fix of drifting action.

I don't think your attempt to make car skid and control it was idiotic.
If most driver's had skills to do that, there'd be much less fatalities on the roads.

However to be proficient in it, you'd need lots of training and practice.
Start over in some big flat area, where you can skid without any consequence and try your best to make car skid and control it.

I've spend probably couple thousand hours doing training like that, burned huge amount of fuel and tyres (and money) doing that when I was younger, and I still keep practicing from time to time.
I feel confident, that loosing control of my car is unlikely due to that, but it's not something that comes just like that. You have to spend many many hours practicing.

John_Rambo

I had a feeling this thread would end up with the best drivers in the world that never ever EVER did anything stupid describing their "thousands of hours" of experience driving in volcanic and shark infested roads with wounded leopards, snow, nearly snow, not quiet snow-but-worse, ice, black ice, blacker than black extreme ice, dark ice, darker ice, angry terriers, hail, icebergs, black icebergs, pirates, pterodactyl's, oil, special skiddy oil, banana skins, black widows, polar bears, aggressive ducks, grease, white squalls, nuclear meltdowns, cyclists, tsunamis, rock slides, pot holes, broken glass, thumb tacks, black mamba's, molten hot magma, the Russian mafia, oceans, perfect storms, twisters, crazed murderers, rapists, hurricanes and zombies lecturing us on the stupid mistakes we made.

Even though we admitted they were stupid mistakes.

Obviously we have to spend many many hours practicing.

Steve

John_Rambo wrote: »

I had a feeling this thread would end up with the best drivers in the world that never ever EVER did anything stupid describing their "thousands of hours" of experience driving in volcanic and shark infested roads with wounded leopards, snow, nearly snow, not quiet snow-but-worse, ice, black ice, blacker than black extreme ice, dark ice, darker ice, angry terriers, hail, icebergs, black icebergs, pirates, pterodactyl's, oil, special skiddy oil, banana skins, black widows, polar bears, aggressive ducks, grease, white squalls, nuclear meltdowns, cyclists, tsunamis, rock slides, pot holes, broken glass, thumb tacks, black mamba's, molten hot magma, the Russian mafia, oceans, perfect storms, twisters, crazed murderers, rapists, hurricanes and zombies lecturing us on the stupid mistakes we made.

Even though we admitted they were stupid mistakes.

Obviously we have to spend many many hours practicing.

Whoa there, there is no such thing as aggressive ducks...

I'm a snowflake and am offended by that so you should be banned, cut up into little pieces and eaten by beetles.

:rolleyes:

CiniO

John_Rambo wrote: »

I had a feeling this thread would end up with the best drivers in the world that never ever EVER did anything stupid describing their "thousands of hours" of experience driving in volcanic and shark infested roads with wounded leopards, snow, nearly snow, not quiet snow-but-worse, ice, black ice, blacker than black extreme ice, dark ice, darker ice, angry terriers, hail, icebergs, black icebergs, pirates, pterodactyl's, oil, special skiddy oil, banana skins, black widows, polar bears, aggressive ducks, grease, white squalls, nuclear meltdowns, cyclists, tsunamis, rock slides, pot holes, broken glass, thumb tacks, black mamba's, molten hot magma, the Russian mafia, oceans, perfect storms, twisters, crazed murderers, rapists, hurricanes and zombies lecturing us on the stupid mistakes we made.

Even though we admitted they were stupid mistakes.

Obviously we have to spend many many hours practicing.

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

I can assume it's pointed at me.

And you're wrong.
I've done lots of stupid things on the road, and after 18 years of driving I still tend to do them, which sometimes I'm ashamed of.

I was just referring to OP's example of purpose skidding an and control (or rather lack of control) of it.
Vehicle control, skidding, etc is a bit of my speciality and I'm indeed proud that I'm good at it - but it didn't come just like that (hence thousands of hours of practice)

But it's just a small part of driving which can only help very occasionally.

There's plenty of other aspects of driving, which I'm very far from being best at or even good at.

sat matt

Driving a small van back when my hair was a bit more plentiful. Rain was bucketing down and much to my annoyance, everyone was slowed to a crawl

I get onto a bit of open road and see a huge puddle across the road up ahead with a car coming crawling towards it in the other direction. So me being the invincible young driver I was, I figured I'd "show them" by hitting the puddle flat out. What exactly I was intending to prove I'll never know

Anyway, I hit the puddle at about 70mph only to very quickly realise this was no puddle but a feckin small lake. The van slammed down into the puddle and an absolute mountain of dark water rose up and smashed over the van. The road disappeared in an instant behind the wall of water that was now hurtling against the wind-screen. The amount of water flowing down the wind-screen was something else... it took about 4 or 5 seconds before I could see out it again at which stage I was well on the opposite side of the road and heading straight for the ditch

I quickly recovered and returned to my own side, white as a ghost and shamed knowing the passing car had witnessed the whole thing. How I didn't cause serious damage to the van I'll never know. When I see those videos on Youtube now of waves smashing up against ships in high seas, I'm brought right back to my duel with the puddle!

s14driftking

I've drifted on the roads done rings pulled handbrakes drove at well in excess of the speed limit. Hit the 155mph speed limit on an m3. 4 wheel drive rings in car parks in evos and Subarus. Had lots of fun but generally restrict it all now to track.
Regarding one of the posters turning of the traction control in a bmw next time at low speeds don't pull the handbrake but dip the clutch and give it a nice bit of boot and let your foot of the clutch hard to break traction and then control it with small steering inputs and the throttle.

Reventon93

I have a habit of just coming to a complete stop at the top of my road (a t-junction) and made the stupid mistake of tring to pull out in 3rd one morning (thought it was in first) ended up stalling on the main road. Scared the **** out of me considering idiots do stupid speed on that road. Problem is that it was going for a little bit and then just conked out. Now i always make sure i'm in first.

Armchair Andy

I've done it when the OH was pregnant. Stuck on flashers and gunned it up the road. Most moved over for me and everything worked out alright. Would I do it again? In those circumstances yes.

Wrote off my first 2 cars due to drink driving back in the 80s. Speed and stupidity mixed with alcohol. I shiver now when I pass those spots on the road.

micks_address

not on the road and not very bad a$$ but i drove down the up ramp once in a multi story by accident... glad there wasn't anyone coming up!

honda boi

Not done much stupid things in the car as kids usually always with me,but before the little ones and years ago on bikes.
I remember coming home from work and it was late and icy as sh*t,even on the motorway and I floored it,stupidly was using my 2 feet sliding on the ground as some kind of 'balance'
I passed people and went in between them as if they weren't moving. Never again would I do something like that!!!!

r3nu4l

r3nu4l wrote: »

Me in a 1 litre 3 pot Corsa, overtaking an articulated truck at 65 mph in fifth gear, just as the road goes into a step uphill climb. I could see a car in the distance coming towards me but kept going, failing to even drop gears. Quickly ran out of steam, forcing the oncoming car into the hard shoulder. Had there been no hard shoulder there would have been a crash.

.

That reminds me of my Opel Corsa story- same 1 litre engine (original version I think) country road, downhill, 60mph (narrow road), feeling like a rally driver

sharp turn at end of hill, was still doing 50mph approaching the turn so no chance of turning, brakes applied too late- I went straight ahead across the road; LUCKILY, there wasn't a wall, there was a GAP in the wall, a small boreen, and I ended up there.

My goodness who i didn't thank and what promises i made to the Almighty that day. A valuable lesson on how not to be stupid on country roads. i could have killed myself and others.

EIREDriver

Reventon93 wrote: »

I have a habit of just coming to a complete stop at the top of my road (a t-junction) and made the stupid mistake of tring to pull out in 3rd one morning (thought it was in first) ended up stalling on the main road. Scared the **** out of me considering idiots do stupid speed on that road. Problem is that it was going for a little bit and then just conked out. Now i always make sure i'm in first.

One of my friends did this one evening with the car full of young lads. He floored it due to poor clutch control and not wanting to stall in front of everyone. Didn't realise he was in 3rd until the car jolted up the hill past the stop sign, the smell of a ruined clutch filling the car. The 4 of us in the car have probably never laughed as hard and the poor driver was absolutely disgusted with himself.

fancy pigeon

I once defecated on a country road, does that count?

Ciano35

fancy pigeon wrote: »

I once defecated on a country road, does that count?

I'd say you've defecated on a few freshly washed cars too

razorblunt

In my first car (a 01 Punto) I was driving the lads home one night (no drink had been taken, just the usual cinema on a Saturday night) got caught up in the conversation and went straight through a red light. Thankfully it was about 2am and there wasn't another car around. I remember getting the lads home and then going home myself and just sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea for an hour with the "what ifs" running through my head.

Definitely gave me a kick up the backside about a) paying attention and b) never attempting to distract the driver.

sjb25

Just after meeting my now fiancée 8 years ago one of our first dates driving back from the cinema one night her friend and her boyfriend in the back said I'd drop them home up a road is never been anyway they are directing me but everyone is talking aswell all of a sudden her freind shouts here's the turn turn now I swing right straight away straight trough a fence into a mans garden :eek: the right turn was about 200meters further up oops luckily it was just a light wooden fence so no major harm done I felt some fecking clown tho

vandriver

As a very young and inexperienced van driver,I was sent down to rural Wexford on a delivery.The fog that day was the worst I've ever driven in(think 20 feet or less visibility).
So,I'm on a narrow country road following someone who obviously knows the road at 50-60 mph,when the main road turns sharp right,and a laneway straight ahead.
Obviously i hurtle down the laneway,and after a minute or two,realise that I've lost my guide,so i pull a u turn and set off in pursuit at speeds hitting 70 mph,thinking in any minute I'll see the red glow of his fogs.
A minute later i see two red lights ahead,but unfortunately it was my guide,upside down blocking the road with 3 or 4 people standing around.
I had just enough time to drive up onto the side banking at an angle of 30 odd degrees and piss past these people and the crashed car still doing a good 50 mph.
I'd say i missed one of the people by inches

When i pulled in a bit down the road(far enough away from the crash) and waited the half hour to get calm enough to continue,I realised that I'd just cheated death and it would have been entirely due to my own stupidity.

blackwhite

razorblunt wrote: »

In my first car (a 01 Punto) I was driving the lads home one night (no drink had been taken, just the usual cinema on a Saturday night) got caught up in the conversation and went straight through a red light. Thankfully it was about 2am and there wasn't another car around. I remember getting the lads home and then going home myself and just sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea for an hour with the "what ifs" running through my head.

Definitely gave me a kick up the backside about a) paying attention and b) never attempting to distract the driver.

Did similar a few years ago, except I was stopped at the lights.

Chatting to passengers and thought I saw the lights turn green - drove off and couldn't figure out why they'd all started laughing.

It was pedestrian lights had gone green, not the traffic lights